Final Reality
by RocketNumber9
Summary: A Friends-esque, day-in-the-life story starring the main cast of XIII in the modern world, inspired by the ending of Lightning Returns, with a few fun twists of my own. Still in progress


_I have no idea how, but I had this idea for a Friends-style story with the main cast. It takes place after LR, in our world, although I changed some details. Enjoy~_

* * *

"So let me get this straight. You're actually expecting me to...eat this?"

I'm staring down in horror at the bowl placed in front of me. Whatever this stew is, it looks black and mucky, like the grim reaper's puke or something.

"Oh would you just trust me already?" Claire says with a chuckle and a shake of her head as she washes the dishes. "You know I wouldn't dare cook you something if I wasn't confident that you'd like it."

"Honestly I don't think this is the kind of thing you should be confident about." I cringe, giving the stew another look and turning away in disgust. "Oh god, I think it just moved."

"Serah, come on. Try it. What, you think you'd die or something?"

"Uhh, probab_ly_."

Claire turns around and gives me a look, raising one eyebrow. I try one last half-hearted "But, but, but..." and yet she just crosses her arms, as if waiting for me to crack. Inevitably I sigh and pick up my spoon.

"Well. Was nice knowin' ya, sis." I grab a spoonful of the demon poop stew and slowly guide it to my lips. Oh god, the suspense is killing me. I mentally count to three, and then bam! I bite down on the spoon and let the stew into my mouth.

My eyes are shut tight as I brace myself for whatever horrid taste is going to attack my tongue, but they pop open when my tongue ends up being attacked by the exact opposite taste. It's extremely flavorful. The kind of food where the more you eat it, the more watery your mouth becomes.

Claire is soaking it all in, grinning triumphantly. "So, you were saying?"

"Umm... First of all, oh my god." I chew and swallow, then quickly scoop up another spoonful. "Second of all, what the hell is this made of?! It's incredible."

"Yyeaaah, I think if I tell you, you might throw it back up."

"Oh throwing this up would be a crime, I tell ya." Within several minutes I'm already halfway through the bowl. "Where did you even get the recipe for this anyway? I never took you for someone who can cook this good."

"Well, I'm afraid that's a secret, my dear sister." She winks at me and continues doing the dishes.

As I continue eating, the door to our apartment opens. I'm hoping it's Vanille and Fang, who live in an apartment building close to ours. Fang proposed to her several days ago, and we still haven't properly celebrated. But when I look up from the table, I see that it's Snow. He lives here in this building, a few doors down from us, and Hope is his roommate.

"Hey guys." He nods politely to me, and I do the same. Things are a little awkward between us still. It's been a while since we broke up, sure, but it still feels like just a few days ago. Luckily it wasn't a messy breakup, though. We both decided that we just weren't right for each other. I always loved Snow, but I don't think I ever really...fell in love with him. We were young and stupid at the time, and I think we ended it for the best, because we're still friends. It'll just...take a while to get used to just being friends, that's all.

"Hey." Claire says, glancing at both of us briefly. She also still doesn't really know how to handle me and Snow not being together. We've been inseparable for so long that everyone has pretty much gotten used to it. But the awkward air in the room subsides quickly, luckily enough. "Where's Hope?"

"Oh, Hope had to take off. He's got an early shift today. But he did tell me to thank you for setting him up with that friend of yours from work." Snow takes off his coat and sits down at the table across from me. I secretly examine him. He looks a lot different now than he did when we were together. His chin-length hair is now shorter and shaggier, and the stubble along his jaw is much more prominent. I used to love pressing my cheek against them and- I quickly pull my thoughts back as it starts veering towards Snowland. I may not have much romantic feelings for him anymore, but I still find him unbearably attractive. I mean, who wouldn't? It's Snow.

Well, I guess I know who wouldn't. Claire. She's been treating him like a brother for so long that I'm pretty sure it's become impossible for her to develop any type of attraction to him at this point. It would probably be like incest for her.

"Yeah, he texted me last night." Claire says. "In all caps, so I assume he got lucky."

"They sure did." Snow chuckles. "Remind me to make my bedroom walls soundproof."

"Aww, I think it's nice that he's out and about again," I say, smiling. A year ago Hope ended things with his long-time girlfriend Alyssa who he'd met in college. They were together for a pretty big chunk of time, until Alyssa cheated on him. He became such a broken person after that, even to the point where he didn't speak to any one of us for a whole week, holing up in his room. I'm glad that things are looking up for him now. "Although I don't know how I feel about him sleeping with someone on the first date."

"Well, he told me he wasn't looking for anything serious," Claire explains. "Just some fun, good ol' sex. So I figured, hey, my friend Laurie from work said the exact same thing to me, so it was a perfect match."

"Ahh," I nod. "I guess he _could _use some fun, the poor guy."

"So Serah, what about you?" Snow asks out of the blue, startling me. "Have you, y'know...gone out with other people? Not that I'd have a problem if you were, but...you know..."

Aaaand the cloud of awkwardness descends upon the room once more. "Uhh, no, I haven't. Haven't really thought about it much, either." I give him a questioning look. "Why, have you?"

"Oh no no no, I was just wondering. I haven't either." He scratches his chin, turning his gaze to the floor.

One of these days we're gonna have to have a long talk about this. About how I don't want things to be awkward between us anymore. There's gotta be some way we can be just friends, without any kind of weird tension in the air like what's been going on ever since we broke up. We've just gotta try and work around it.

"Well anyways," Claire pipes up to our rescue, cutting through the thick tension like a blade. "We have gotta get to work."

Oh crap, that's right. I have a job. The three of us rush to get our coats on. "By the way," Claire adds as she grabs the keys. "I'm gonna invite all of us over here tonight to celebrate Vanille and Fang's engagement. You can come, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Snow says. "I'll let Hope know."

When we're out in the hall, Snow waves to us and goes ahead to the elevator. Claire locks our door and I sigh in relief. "Is it always gonna be this awkward between us?"

"Oh, it's not so bad."

"Are you kidding me?" I ask her, appalled. "If you didn't come to our rescue, all that tension and awkwardness would've eaten us alive." Claire puts her arm around me as we walk to the elevator together. "I just don't know how to act around him anymore."

She squeezes my shoulder. "It'll just take some getting used to. Don't worry. The worst case scenario would've been you guys not being able to be in the same room as each other, thus making it impossible for all of us to hang out together."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I reply with a sigh. "I'm lucky he even agreed to still be friends with me."

"And he's lucky the breakup was mutual. Cause if he had hurt you I would've rushed to buy some nice, big shears and cut his-"

"O-kay!" I pipe in, stopping her. "Happy thoughts, sis, happy thoughts. Now let's get to work before we end up living in an alley."

* * *

_That's a decent beginner I suppose? It's a little short, but I currently have a lot planned for this story in later chapters, so we'll see how it goes. ^^ Hope you guys enjoyed it! I'll be continuing very soon~_


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